E 

.452 
.2 

.F4I 




>; ISSUES OF THE REBELLION. 



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•[•■ ^ 5"S^ 



42. 



SPEECH • 



OF 



HON. S. C. FESSENDEN, 



OF MAINE. 



z. 



Delivered in the House of Representatives, January 20, 1862. 




WASHmGTON, B. C. 

SCAiniELI. A CO., PRINTERS, CORNER OF SEfOXD A\D INDIAXA AVEXCE, THIRD FLOOR. 

1862. 



^4- St 



n> 



.-^^V 



SPEECH 



Mr. FES3ENDEN said: 

Mr. Chairman : It is obvious, if it "vrere not 
for that wheel in the machinery of "rules" of 
this body, which, in its revolutions, occasionally 
r8.?olves the House into the " Committee of the 
Whole on the state of the Union," not all would 
be said that might be hs to measures in relation 
to which, whether adopted or rejected by the 
Congress of ihe United Slates, no member should 
be refused the opportunity of expressing his 
views. I avail myself of "the hour," and pro- 
pose to speat of the rebellion in the aspect in 
which it presents itself to my constituents. 

Witl;i whatever thoroughness and consummate 
ability the (questions for which the rebellion has 
given occasion have been discussed here, and I 
am confident there has leen no deficiency in this 
respect on either side, it is by no means to ex- 
clude, I trust, any member from avp.iling himself 
of the right to be heard, in the performance of 
his duty to speak, as the proper medium through 
which his constituents are represenf.ed," and 1 
hold it to be my duty to represent what I under- 
stand to be the will of my constituents. I am 
theirs to serve in ihis regard in this Hall — a 
service whici I canuot conscientiously render 
them and my country only as I bring to the con- 
sideration of every measure all the mental facul- 
ties I possess, ami then act upon these measures 
in view of my responsibility to my country and 
my God. 

What I understand to be the will of my con- 
stituents is, that this wicked, rebellion should be 
put down. That this Government should, as 
speedily as possible, bring to bear upon it. i s gi- 
gf.ntic power for its utter extinguishment and 
extirpation, and 'so effectually that, when the 
work is doue, it shall he as utterly impossible 
for it so much as to breathe again, as it is im- 
possible for this rebellion to-day to give breath 
again to the slain, whose blood it has* cause- 
lessly, wickedly shed. 

My constituents are loyalist^. They hold to 
the subordination of 8tate to Federal authority 
— the unconditional support by the States of 
the Federal Government within the limits of its 
constitutional powers. They maintain that, 
witii secession in its final form, a rebellion 



backed by an army, we wi"l not, cannot com- 
pYoniise. That the only conditions, on the part 
of the States here represented, on which this 
contest, can be terminated, are: that the rebel 
States lay down their arms, dissolve their pseudo 
confederacy, restore the national property which 
they have feloniously seized, and give up the 
leaders in this rebellion to merited punishment. 
That they do this unconditionally, without any 
proviso fir the perpetuiiy of slavery. Sir, my 
constituents are not for end«-avoring to allure 
the rebel States by saying to them, if you will but 
desin and return jou may come with your bosom 
institution, v/ith the hope on your part, and the 
expectation on ours, that it will be so disem- 
boweled of its hideous heart and nature, so im- 
proved and strengthened, as to be forever here- 
after regarded as a beautiful polished stone in 
our national fabric. No, sir ; they know that 
this would be to seek to allure their retjrn with 
a lie in reservation; with as base a lie a,s ever 
fell from mortal lips, so flagrant atid so bare- 
faced that Lucifer himself would blush to have 
them utter it. 

My constituents have not. in so brief a ipe- 
riod, forgotten the words of '-honest" Abra- 
ham Lincoln — and honest I believe him to be — 
of whom they were told he would never forget 
his own words, tior would one act of his Admin- 
istration be inconsistent with their truthfulness, 
ccme what might — " A house divided against 
itself cannot stand :" 

'• I Ijolicve this (Joverniueut cannot awAwvc permanentty 
linlf slave anil half free. I do not e.Kpect the Union to be 
dissolved ; I ilo not exjicct the house to fall ; bnt I do ex- 
pect It will cease to be divided. It will become all cue 
tlu'ig or all the other. Eilfter the opponents of Blavery 
will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the 
public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the ceurse 
of ultiniita extinction, or its advocates will push it forward 
til! it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as 
as well as new, North as well as South." 

And again : '' 

" I believe this Government lias endured half slave and 
half free, becau.se during all thai time — eighty -two years — 
until the introduction ot the >febraslca bdl, the public mind 
did rest in the belief that slavery was in the course of ul- 
timate extinction." 

I v/ould to Heaven that during the hours of 
this debate, these words of an honest man and 
a true patriot, who spoke what he meant, and 



meant as be ppoke, were written in letters of 
iire on ths four walls of this Council Chamber ! 
And then, lest some viiil of cotton or gold or na- 
tional expediency should intervene to avert the e\ e 
from such a spectacle, I wouM that every occu- 
pant of these listening giUerics were God's swift 
prophetic ministers to cry continually, "Your 
legislation must be in agreement with the^e 
A words, or Ichabod ! will be your nation's doom 
and epitaph !'' 

Sir, but a very, very brief period has elapsed 
since the ITtb of June, 1858. If then it had bt- 
come so perfectly dtmonstrable to the far-seeing 
eye of the statesman, now President of the Uni- 
ted States, that this Government could not juc/- 
mancnlhj endure half slave and half fn e, that he 
could say '■ I believe it" — is it less so now? 

U then it was his belief that the reason why 
this Government had endured half slan'e and 
half free was, because during all that time — 
eighty-two yeirs — until the introduction of the 
Nebraska bill, the public mind did rest in -the 
belief that slavery was in the course of ultimate 
extinction — ought it to be the less his belief 
now ? When be came to Washington to take 
his place iu the presidential chair, he said he 
would sutTer death rather than yield the principles 
on which he was elected. He fearlessly taught 
the greai tru h of the ''irrepressible conflict" 
on the pmiries of Illinois. Is the couflict less 
irreprescible now than then ? 

The public mind resting in the belief that 
8la\''erj was in the course of ultimate "extinction 
the Constitution and the Union have been sus- 
tained. Sir, there is a question of the utmost 
significince in respect to this conflict, v/bich, 
as it seems to me, we cannot wisely refuse to 
consider. I ' every rebel State could be brought 
back to-dav, of what avail would it he if this 
Government cauupt eadave permane7ith/ half slave 
a,nd h^li' free ? 

la Secretarr Seward's letter to Mr. Dayton, 
(Papers Ralating to Foreign AlFairs, page 182.) 
1 read : 

" The condition of slavory in the several States will re- 
miiio jusi llio same, whotluu- it (the rovoliition) succoeil or 
tail. Tliero is nut even a prele.xl lot the complaint thai llie 
ilisaflbcli"! Statf.s are to ha conquered by the United States 
if ttie revolution fail ; for the riglits of the States and the 
coDdttiou of every human being in them will remain sub- 
ject to exactly the same laws and forms of admini.stration, 
wheUwT llie revolution shall succeed (jr whether it shall 
litfl. In the one case, the .Stato.s would be federally con- 
nected with the new Confederacy ; in the other they would, 
as HOW, bo raunibers of the United St;ilc.s ; but their consli- 
tuliODS and laws, customs, liabit.s, and institutions, in eitli"r 
case will reiuaiu the 8<ime." 

" Words," said a distinguished diplomatiit, a 
few d >ya before his withdrawal from the pal.aee 
to the tomb — "words were given to concea', not 
to express thought.'^ Not no in this instance at 
least. There is no circumlocution in tins lan- 
guagn. No attempt to cone al by phraseology of 
doul)tfal meaning that which it was intended to 
enun iatc. Let no one of that cla-^s of men who 
are continually taunting us in this world, where 
"circumstances alter cases," with thecxplani- 
tiou ihtit " couti.-tency is a jewel," allege that 
there is any inconsistency between the lang\]age 
ot »;e.reiary Seward to the miuialer of the United 



States, in France, and Governor Seward of New 
York, who, in declining to comply with a requisi- 
tion of the Governor of Virginia for the rendition 
of three men who had abducted a slave from 
Virginia, said : 

•' I remain of opinion that a being possessed of physical , 
moral, and intellectual faculties common to the human race, 
cannot, by force of any constitution or laws, be goods or 
chatties, or a thing." 

I admit it would seem as if — 

" Men change with fortune — manners change with climes. 
Tenets with books, and principles with times." 

No, sir! The eternal principles of right and 
of righteous Governments do not change with 
" the times," nor by the lapse of time. Quod ab 
initio non valet, tractu temporis convalesccre wore 
potest — that which had no force in the beginning 
caij gaia no strength from the lapse of time. A 
cla'm or, title, originally defective, cannot derive 
any additional weight from prescription. 

Is it not the philosophy of history, though we 
may ignors it, that all the Governments of the 
world have approached stability just in proportion 
as they have settled down in the principles of 
right ; and that " the nation which overrides jus- 
tice and humanity is ever spawning the seeds of 
its own destruction?" 

But slavery as it was and is, is to remain, 
whether the loyal States are successful or un- 
successful in this war for the defence of the Con- 
stitution and the Union. Those laws and cus- 
toms and habits of slavery under which, in the 
yeur preceeding President Lincoln's inaugura- 
tion, seven hundred and twenty-three m^n from 
tue North were treated with brutal violence at 
the South ; between forty and fifty were mur- 
dered ; many were tarred and feathered, or 
(TU'-lly whipped ; many were imprisoned and 
robbed of their money and clothing, and no local 
:iuthorities in'erfered for their protection. Laws 
an I customs which would as effectually exclude 
million's of men in the North and West from the 
South, who are prosecuting this war, as though 
there were no South ; constitutions which, if 
tbey are to remain, leave not one particle of ad- 
vantage gained by the free Stat'-s over causes 
which induced the South to separate, but with 
these causes still existing in'full force, having 
been strengthened, and not in the least weakened 
with a people who look at all times wi*h con- 
temptuous astonishment on those who — I quote 
I he words of Mr. Leigh in the Virginia conven- 
tion of 1829— 

" Depend on their daily labor for thoir daily subsistence, 
can never enter into political alfairs ; never do, never will, 
never can." 

If this be so — if such is to be the result of this 
war in case the rebellion does not succeed, then 
this Government will have inherent in it, as it 
has hitherto, the elements of its destruction. Cer- 
tainly, the public m'nd North, in this event, 
CDuld no longer rest in the belief that slavery is 
ju the course of ultimate extinction. How could 
it flo much a,.i reach forward to this belief? Or, 
if to this belief it could attait^ aow could it pos- 
sibly rest in it, since the battles would have been 
fought, the victories won, at such a sacrifice of 
treasure and life as could not be estimated by 



s 



any rule of human computation ; and still [the 
Union restored, the disaifected States brought 
back with their constitutions and laws, customs, 
habits, and institutions as thej existed previous 
to the lebellion? And the public mind South 
would rest in the belief — rest did I say ? No, 
sir; as hei-etofcre it has known no rest, but has 
been restless, active, aggressive, in the belief, so 
it would continue to be, that slavery must have 
extension and political recognition until it shall 
become alike lawful in all the States. And why 
not? They regard "slavery as the most safe 
and stable basis for republican institutions in the 
world;" " as.t*ie corner-stone of our republican 
edifice; that no humm institution is more man- 
ifestly consistent with ths will of God than do- 
mestic si ivery." They do not believe that this 
Union can perraaneitly endure without the 
basis -is so broad that the whole supsrsl'ucture 
shall stand upon it. As patriots — as philan- 
thopic Christian men who would see to it that an 
institutioa fraught with such inestimable bless- 
ings, and so manifestly consistent with the will 
of God, should onward move until its advant- 
ages and I'lessings are in the possession and 
enjoyment of every State — they are under the 
most solemn obligations to contend for it, live 
for it while they live, and die for it, if they 
must, if so be thas through their instrumen- 
tality this institution may accomplish its glo- 
rious destiny, and the corner-stone of our repub- 
lican edifice be immovably fixed for ever. In 
regard to the Cincinnati platform, Mr. Benton 
was reported to have said at a political ratifica- 
tion meeting — 

" I liavo told you of the attciui)t,s to kill ofT Buchanan in 
tho'conveiition, umU-r the two-thirds rule. There was an- 
other attempt "f a different kind to do the same thing. It 
was with a platlorra, a pat1bulai-y structure, with a ropo 
over the head, and a trap-door under the feet, an* so con- 
trived tliat if In; got on it ho was swung up in tlio North ; if 
not, he was laid out at the South. His friends fo^mcl Mt the 
game. It was determined that ho should mount the plat- 
form, be it wliat it might." 

In 1836, Governor McDufiie said, in hia mes- 
sage to the Legislature of South Carolina, " that 
within twenty-five years slavery would be ex- 
tended to the North -ra States." From th it day 
to the hour of the rebellion has that State, with 
its colaborers in thought and action, vigorously 
endeavored to bring about the fulfillment of this 
prediction, and thus "kill ofif" the North. And 
now th;; attempt has culminated in this rebel- 
lion, inasmuch as the quarter of a century has 
elapsed, and the prediction had not been accom- 
plished. 

By the aid of the. rebellion a platform has been 
constructed, a patibulary structure, with a roue 
aver tiie bead of the loyal States and a trap-door 
mder thsi.- feet, -o that, if the States take their 
stand upon it, the nation is destined one day to 
3nd its existence in the North ; for it is " laid out" 
a its robe of dissolution and decay by the South. 
This platform is that construction of the Cou- 
ititutioQ by which slavery is so ingeniously 
)olted and riveted in lit that you can in nowise i 
ise it t) crush the rebellion, but, on the con- 
rary, must so make use of it as to foster and up- 
lold it; and in the event o;' its being crushed, ■ 



that construction by which the constitutions and 
laws, customs, habits, and institutions of the now 
disloyal States are to remain the same as they 
were previous to the insurrection. The loyal 
States are asked to mount this platform. The 
rope is above. The trap-door is ready for them 
on which to take their stand. Shall they mount 
it? Is there no scheme about it which will be fatal 
to the North and to the Union in the end ? 

I do not know what answer the President of 
the United States in 1862 would make to this 
question if it were put to him. But I do know, 
and his countrymen must know, that Abraham 
Lincoln, of Illinois, would, in 1858, have said, 
in answer to the question, "any platform, how- 
ever and by whomsoever constructed, for the 
perpetuily of this Government half slave and half 
free, must inevitably break down by force of that 
principle which works, it m.^.y be slowly, but 
surely, to its end, for its vitality is in the decrees 
of the Almighty. ' A house divided against itself 
cannot stand.' I refer you to my speeches in re- 
ply to Senator Douglas, in which, if there is any 
one proposition which I had supposed I had dem- 
onstrated, it was that this Government cannot 
endure permanently half slave and half free." 

Mr. Chairman, possibly we may ultimately be 
successful in this war without taking such meas- 
ures as shall result in the abolition of slavery. 
Possibly we may be strong enough to do this, 
and leave slavery in the slave States in statu quo 
antebellum. I do not believe, however, that we 
are sufficiently powerful to accomplish this ob- 
ject, if it be our object, because I cannot disbe- 
lieve that God has good still in store for us. But 
possibly, I say, we may have this power, as many 
have the will. But in this event, we return from 
victory, as did the Thracian horse, still bearing 
a master on his back. ' 

When a Pioman emperor put his colleague and 
brother to death, he requested Papinian to write 
him out such a defence of the deed as it might be 
proper for him to read before the senate. The 
old jurist answered, in the noble=it spirit of jus- 
tice, that it was a great deal easier to commit a 
murder than to justify it. And though the an- 
swer cost him his life ultimately, posterity has 
never ceased to admire the boldness and truth 
of that reply. We may be able to quell this re- 
bellion, and leave slavery as it was before the 
war. A Papinian would tell us that this were 
easier done than to justify the deed in the face 
of a people deeply conscious that slavery is the 
primum mobile of this rebellion; that it feeds its 
flame continually; and that to bring it back 
with the States is to restore with them< that 
condition of things under the influence of which 
this Government cannot endure. It may exist 
in name, but the name will become a deception. 
It will be like the R5man renublic, which existed 
in name under the Ciesars, but the reality of 
which had completely disappeared. 

Sir, 1 am to be found wiilr those who plant 
tliemselves squarely on the ground that the con- 
stitutional, legal, and providential aim of this 
war is to preserve and vindicate the Government 
of the United States. This is the aivi v^jf the 
war. We are agreed — do I hear from geatlemea 



6 



on the other side of the House? And so we are 
as to t>'e aim of the war. But it is as to the 
means which are to he employed in carrying it 
forward that we differ. Oa the one side, it is 
proposed to confiscate the property of rebels, 
slaves included ; the slaves of loyal men, to 
free them and compensate their owners, as 
included in the means by which this rebellion 
can be the most specdilj^ and effectually quelled 
and the aim of the war accomplished. On the 
other, it is contended that these means ought 
not tp be employed; that the? are not adapted 
to meet the end proposed ; that, if they were, 
the Republican partj- is pledged not to use them. 
But, more than all, that to make use of these 
means would be unconstitutional — not adapted 
to meet the end proposed. Then the converse 
of the proposition is true. To let the rebels re- 
tain their slaves, and to let loyal men retain 
theirs — in whatever way these slaves may be 
used by rebels, it matters not — is a part of the 
means adapted to crush the rebellion and give 
success to our arms. But this obviously is not 
true, because if they are employed to till the 
soil, build intrenchments, or to bear arms, they 
are employed in the same manner against us that 
the disloyal white men at the South are em- 
ployed; and there would be just as much pro- 
priety in asserting that a part of the means 
adapted to crush the rebellion and give success 
to our Government should be not to take and 
disarm these white men, as not to take and dis- 
arm these slaves. 

But is not our policy in this matter to be 
shaped by the clear teachings of the war? If, in 
prosecuting the war, we have been taught that 
slaves afford aid and comfort to the enemy, and 
no aid, but much discomfort to us, is it not the 
part of wisdom so to shape our policy as to de- 
prive our enemies of so much of the sinews of 
their strength ? No, say some; the Republican 
party, and the Government, without distinction 
of party, is pledged not to meddle with slavery. 
When did they make this pledge ? Not when at 
Chicago it was resolved : 

"Th;it Uie .maintenance inviolate of the rights of the 
States, and especially the right of each State to order and 
control its own domestic iustitutioa.s according to its own 
judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of pow^M- 
on whlcli the perfection and endurance of ouNpolitical faUh 
depends." 

For this rebellion was not in existence then. 
When did the President give the pledge not to 
meddle with slavery in any way in this war? In 
his very last message he has told us "the Union 
must be preserved ; and hence, all indispensable 
means must be employed." Suppose it should, 
in his judgment, constitute a part of the "indis- 
pensalde means" to be employed in preserving the 
Union, that .lavery should be attacked at every 
point, is he under any pledg'e to hold back the 
sword? On the contrary, are not these very 
words his pledge to use the sword for the extinc- 
tion of slavery, if, in his judgment, such use of 
it is indispensable for the preservation of the 
Union ? 

Was the passage of the Critteisden resolutions 
a pleAfte that we would, in no event, interfere 
with slavery? The resolutions declare : 



"That this war is not waged upon our part in any spirit 
of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjuga- 
tion, nor purpose of overffirowing or interfering with the 
rights or established institutions of those States, but to de- 
fend and rnaintiiin the supremacy of the Constitution, and 
to preserve the Union wi.th all the dignity, eciuality, and 
rights of the several Stales imirapairei : that, as soon as 
these objects nre accomplished, th"; war ought to cease." 

This resolution is both negative and positive in 
dei daring the object, the purpose of the war, and 
must be so interpreted as to have all its parts 
agree, or it; is valueless. 

It the construction you put on a" part of these 
resolutions makes another part of them null and 
void, your construction cannot staud. If gentle- 
men so construe the phraseology, "this war is 
not waged upon our part in any spirit of oppres- 
sion, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjuga- 
tion, lior purpose of overthrowing or interfering 
with the rights or established institutions of those 
States," in such manner as to restrict the Gov- 
ernment from employing such constitutional 
means as it may deem necessary, be these consti- 
tutional means what they may, " to defend and 
maintain the supreuacy of the Constitution, and 
to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equal- 
ity, and rights of the several States unimpaired," 
their construction must be erroneous. 

The question, after all, is in tlie point, well 
made — are the means which it is proposed to 
employ, an'i especially so far as the use that is 
to be made of slaves and slavery — "to defend and 
maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and 
to preserve the Union" constitutional? 

On this question there is, and must of necessi- 
ty be, a difference of opinion. Who shall decide 
where doctors of the law disagree ? As to Gov- 
ernment and legislators, when the duty is forced 
upon them, as it is, they must decide, each man 
for himself, notwithstanding doctors of the law 
disagre^. I know of no other course. 

I do iiot propose to discuss the question as to 
the constitutionality of these mea-ures. Discus- 
sed as it has been and will be by able legal gen- 
tlemen on the floor of this House, we shall get 
all the light we can have upon it, without any 
exhibition of my want of good taste in endeavor- 
ing to augment this light. But, sir, my point 
still is — it must be clearly shown that the means 
proposed are unconstitutional before it can be 
made to appear that they ure not to be employed 
to defend and maintain the supremacy of the 
Constitution and to preserve the Union. It is 
the remark of an eminent jurist : 

"The history of man does not present a more illustrious 
monument oi human invention, sound political principles, 
and judicious combinations, than the Constitution of tl^ 
United States." 

Sir, I have yet to see it proved, if proved it 
can be, that, in its 'judicious combinations," we 
find such prohibitions as must inhibit either the 
Commander-in-Chief of the army or the Congress 
of the United States from employing "confisca- 
tion or emancipation," if in their wisdom neces- 
sary, in prosecuting this war. And if proved, it 
will give additional force to the truth of the re- 
mark, that "the best constitution which can be 
framed, with the most anxious deliberation that 
can be bestowed upon it, may, in practice, be 



found imperfect and inadequate to tlie true inter- 
ests of society." 

Sir, [ listened with pleasure to the speech of 
the honorable gentleman from Kentucky, [Mr. 
Wadswoiith,] lecause "it whs the oiher sidw of 
this question" most ably and candidly and elo- 
quently discussed. Although he did not bhow, 
in my bumble opinion, that the position of my 
honoralde friend from Ohio, [Mr. Bi.ngham,] in 
regard to the power of Congress relative to this 
whole subject-matter of slavery in prosecuting 
the war, was unsound, he Was eminently su! cess- 
ful in selting forth his views, and what I under- 
stand to b(-' the position of all the slave States. 
For this I thank him. He did not htsitate to de- 
clare that, "if you are for the emancipation of the 
slaves, you arm each man in those Slates against 
you." "You must choose between nego slave- 
ry or the while people of fifteen States in opposi- 
tion to you." Yes, sir; here are the terms; let 
the North not mistake with respect to them. If 
it does, it will not be the fault of my honorable 
friend from Kentucky. 

But pray, sir, let me ask, is not this as much 
conditional support of the Government and con- 
ditional support of the war, on the part of this 
gentlemin, and those for whom bespeaks, as it 
is conditioiml support of the Gove nment find the 
war, on the part of the honorable gentleman from 
Kanea.-, [.VIr. Conway,] or the honorable gentle- 
man from Massachusetts, [Mr. Eliot,] anfi those 
for whom they speak, when the on'> declares that 
" he will not vote another man or another dollar 
for this war unless it is made a war gg-anst shi- 
very," and the other, " that there should be no 
restoration of 'his Union with slavery i I it." This 
language I quote from the speech of the honor- 
able gentleman from Kentucky, but I have failed 
to find it ii the timely and able speech of the 
honorable gentleman from Massachusetts. Why, 
then, complain of conditionalism, when, in fact, 
it is to be found jnst as much witi some South- 
ern as with S'me Northern loyalists? WtJy not 
admit that the same error, if it be an^ e ror, be- 
longs to each, though it mocks them in different 
ways. No slavery — no Union; but the white 
people of fi!t. en States in oppositi in to you. May 
we of the North not as franky declare, no liberty 
for the s aves — no Union ; but the pe'iph- of nine- 
teen States against you? If you are not fanatics 
who in,si3t on no Union, if no slavery — tlien we 
are not fanatics who insist on no Union, if no lib- 
erty to the slaves. Or if the one is the fanaticism 
of slavery, and the other of universal li erty, if 
we must, cho ">se between them — as it s^^ems we 
must — fjr my pnrt I choose the fanatici m of lib- 
erty. I cannot but think, though the honorable 
gentleman from Kentucky will noi-. concur with 
me, that sooner or later the people of the Nonh 
and West will choose this fanaticism, since 
choose they must. 

Sir, I honor the men of an idea to which they 
cling wi*h the tenacity of death, aa the very life 
of the R public; who scorn to run wi h ^'are- 
headed deb.-isement the scrub r.xce of popularity; 
who take not counsej of majorities, bu only of 
truth. Th-se men *bf the Calhoun idea, tha' 
"slavery is the mosr safe and stable basis for 



republican institutions in the world ; " who cling 
to it as the very life of the Republic — they do not 
run the scrub race of popularity ; ther/ trike not 
counsel of majorities ; I cannot add, only of truth. 
But still I honor them for the fearlessness with 
which they utter their convictions ; in these con- 
victions I believe them to be couscientiou.s. And 
will they not grant that we are conscientious in 
the i lea that liberty to all, the bl^ck as well as 
the white man, is the life of the Republic? And 
in the idea of which we cannot be rid, that if 
slavery should be terminated by this war, it 
would be, in the language of Lord Brougham, of 
the great emancipation struggle and vicory in 
England, " the greatest triumph mortal man ever 
won over the greatest crime man ever committed?'^ 
ff you Condemn us for this, let your condemna- 
tion be first of Jefferson and his compeers, who 
said : 

" One day of American slavery i.s worse lliau a thousand 
years of that which wc rose in arms to oppose." 

Pass all along the line of departed statesmen, 
and select the most illustrious of their age ia 
every land, and condemn them. If you have 
any anathema to pronounce, let it likewise fall 
on Seward and Chase and Lincoln, for they are 
among the living whose well-sowed seed of 
truth is now raising our expectations of hearing 
shouted, ere long, the "harvest home" of the 
reapers for liberty I What then? What of all 
this, do you ask? Why, just this, and nothing 
less and nothing more. Let not this contest 
end — it cannot terminate with principles so an- 
tagonistic living in the hea-ts and ever kindling 
the deeds of the men North and South, and a 
lasting Union be secured. Do not let us deceive 
ourselves or the people in this matter. I think 
Carlyle was not far from the trutbi when he 
said: 

" America's b.attlo is ynt to light, and she will have her 
owu iigouy and her own vii:tory, but on other terms than 
she is yet quite aware of." 

Men and money my constituents would have 
me vote for this war ; men and money I will un- 
hesitatingly vote for it — all of both hat Govern- 
ment may require. The State of Maine, one of 
whose Representatives in this Congress I have 
the honor to be, has already sent into the field 
sixteen thousand men — *ive hundred more than 
he quota of five hundred thousand which were 
thought requisite for this war. If you call for 
them she will as promptiy and cheerfully furnish 
sixteen thousand more. But let not the war pol- 
icy of the Cabinet be founded on the idea of paci- 
fication without conquest, and without disturb- 
ing slavery, the continued existence of which 
has been considered, we fear, an essential ele- 
ment of pacification, whether with or without 
conquest. <^ 

And do not ask us to believe that the end is to 
be the restoration of the Unii n with slavery in- 
tact. Let us at least cheer our hearts with the 
thought, the hope, that it m.ay t>e otherwise; ana 
that with the end of this war there will come the 
en 1 of that which caused it, an) which Mr. Rhett 
said, in the South Carolina Convention, "has 
been gathering head for thirty" — he might have 
said for more than thirty — " years." Confisca- 



8 



tion'— emancipation, even I Do you tell me the 
people will not bear it? I do not comprehend 
how loyal men can help bearing what the Con- 
gress, in such a day of the nation's peril, may, in 
its wisdom, have the resolution to do. 

I have somewhere read that on a medal struck 
by the city of Worms in 1617, there is represented 
a burning candle, standing upon an open Bible, 
•with a serpent endeavoring to extinguish it, and 
a hand from the clouds pointing to it, and inti- 
mating that divine strength feeds the flame. One 
inscription on the medal is, " Lord, let it shine 
on forever ! " 



I It ia divine strength which feeds the flame of 
the burning candle of liberty, so brightly ablaze, 
still supported by our Constitution ; while the 
green and gilded serpent pf slavery, in the shape 
of rebellion and secession, is endeavoring to twine 
its slimy folds about it to extinguish it. Do you 
assert that slavery is not this serpent? Beit 
what it may, then, in this we are agreed : w6 
will strangle it to death. And may liberty, sup- 
ported by the Constitution of our fathers, shine 
on forever ! 





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